Blog Post
New Collection: Art Tools!
by Employee 37
Attention papercrafters! You can now borrow Sizzix Big Shot die-cutting kits. Die-cutters let you cut or emboss shapes out of a variety of materials, from paper to thicker card stock, felt, and even thin aluminum if you're brave enough to cup up your old pop cans. Each kit contains a variety of dies and one rolling machine, you just supply the consumables like paper and glue. Die-cutting kits are great for back to school projects, scrapbooking, card making, party decorations and more. The Big Shots are shelved Downtown, currently circulate for one week and are requestable. Parental supervision is recommended as the dies contain sharp edges. More Art Tools are forthcoming and you can watch aadl.org/arttools for the latest updates.
Blog Post
AADL Featured in Current Magazine
by aadl staff
Did you know about all of the Unusual Stuff we have to borrow?
The October issue of Current Magazine features a full-page article highlighting AADL's music tools collection, explaining how the collection has attracted interest from "musicians and teachers, students, parents and hobbyists," as well as the general public and mentioning that AADL offers access to these unique materials at no charge to library cardholders.
The article also relates the collection to AADL's mission to offer resources to the community through the use of traditional and innovative technologies and mentions our growing collections of games, home tools, art prints and telescopes.
Crafts
Marvelous Monet
Tuesday May 19, 2015: 7:00pm to
8:30pm
Pittsfield Branch: Program Room
Grades 3-8
Blog Post
Observing a Meteor Shower
by amy
The Perseid Meteor Shower is peaking right now and although the weather in Ann Arbor isn't exactly cooperating tonight, it looks like it may clear up in the next couple days. So prepare yourself for a shower of comet debris by grabbing one of our new binoculars, part of our collection of Science Tools. Even if the moon outshines the shower, at least you'll have the perfect tool for gazing at the mountains and craters of the moon.
Blog Post
Head Downtown to Check Out Lawn Games For The Weekend
by Employee 37
Today is a great day to visit the Downtown Library and check our recently expanded [Games] collection. We've got giant garden checkers and dominoes, disc golf kits and colorful scoop ball sets, giant tumble towers, metal detectors & more. Also, we highly recommend that you get your Scandinavian lawn games fix with a set of Kubb (pronounced coob) the ancient viking lawn game of chance and skill. Most games circulate for one week and some can be requested, but most are offered on a first-available basis.
Blog Post
Games People Play
by aadl staff
Just in time for summer, we have added games to our list of Unusual Stuff to Borrow. But, not just any ol' games! We now have giant-sized versions of small games and small-sized versions of giant games. Available only Downtown, we have giant lawn Checkers, giant Dominos, a mini Ping Pong table, Kubb and more, available for all AADL cardholders to check out.
The games are limited in quantity, and are on a first-come first-serve basis; they may not be renewed or requested. You can see the full catalog list of games here.
Blog Post
Framed Prints for Your Events
by aadl staff
May and June are packed with graduation parties and weddings. Are you hosting an occasion and would like an inexpensive way to decorate the venue? You can borrow beautifully framed prints to display at your event from us.
AADL not only has books, music and movies for patrons to check-out, but many unusual items, including framed prints. The collection includes works by well-known artists including VanGogh, Matisse, Degas, Monet, Rivera, da Vinci, and Lichtenstein, just to name a few. You can browse the full selection in our catalog. Rentals for art prints extend for eight weeks.
Even if you aren't hosting a party, adding something new to your wall can freshen up any space. Stop in and browse today.
Blog Post
UMSI MakerFest
by skcramer
Are you interested in finding out more about the University of Michigan’s new Bachelor of Science in Information degree? Would you like to watch a demo of Google Glass, see a 3-D printer in action, learn how to crochet, or play with some of AADL’s music tools? If so, then you should definitely check out the UMSI MakerFest on Wednesday, March 26th from 12-2 PM at the Michigan Union.
So what is a MakerFest? UMSI's MakerFest grew out of the Maker Movement, which encourages people to combine their love of crafts and DIY projects with innovative technologies. MakerFest is an opportunity for "makers" of all types to get together, try out new tools, and most importantly, make new things.
This event is cosponsored by the School of Information, the Center for Campus Involvement, Ann Arbor District Library, All Hands Active, MakerWorks, U-M Computer and Video Game Archives, and Michigan Makers.
You can find out more at the UMSI MakerFest Facebook page.
Blog Post
March into a Book Club to Go!
by PattySmith
Over the next few weeks the AADL will be rolling out six new Book Clubs to Go. There will be a mix of fiction and non-fiction that will include Amy Tan’s newest book, The Valley of Amazement and Robert K. Massie’s best-seller, Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman. Keep your eyes open for the following titles:
Fiction:
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton Disclafani
Exiled to an equestrian boarding school in the South at the height of the Great Depression for her role in a family tragedy, strong-willed teen Thea Atwell grapples with painful memories while acclimating to the school's strict environment.
The Round House by Louis Erdrich
When his mother, a tribal enrollment specialist living on a reservation in North Dakota, slips into an abyss of depression after being brutally attacked, 14-year-old Joe Coutz sets out with his three friends to find the person that destroyed his family.
Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
Recruited into MI5 against a backdrop of the Cold War in 1972, Cambridge student Serena Frome, a compulsive reader, is assigned to infiltrate the literary circle of a promising young writer whose politics align with those of the government, a situation that is compromised when she falls in love with him.
The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
Violet is one of the most celebrated courtesans in Shanghai, a beautiful and intelligent woman who has honed her ability to become any man's fantasy since her start as a 'Virgin Courtesan' at the age of twelve. Half-Chinese and half-American, she moves effortlessly between the East and the West. But her talents belie her private struggle to understand who she really is and her search for a home in the world.
Non-Fiction:
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie
The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure German princess who became one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history.
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Eric Larson
The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Nazi Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with unforgettable portraits of the bizarre Göring and the expectedly charming--yet wholly sinister--Goebbels, In the Garden of Beasts lends a stunning, eyewitness perspective on events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity
Blog Post
I Remember When: a 1974 video series made during Ann Arbor's sesquicentennial celebrations
by amy
Just in time for Ann Arbor’s 190th anniversary, AADL is pleased to release - for the first time! - I Remember When, a seven-part video series made during the city's sesquicentennial celebrations in 1974 "to tell the story of the important events that have happened in Ann Arbor's 150-year-old history."
In the first show, host Ted Trost says, "...the entire series will be recorded on videotape so that future generations of Ann Arborites may see and hear what it was like, way back when in 1974 - the year Ann Arbor celebrated her sesquicentennial.” And today, 40 years later, all seven episodes are available at aadl.org/irw for streaming and downloading!
Following an overview in the first show, each episode focuses on a specific topic - from city politics, the business community and religion, to entertainment, music and theater, and Ann Arbor’s Greek and German communities - and features interviews with several prominent citizens from that era. Together these films provide a snapshot of our city at a unique time and place in its history.
I Remember When was sponsored by the (at that time) Ann Arbor Public Library, in conjunction with the Ann Arbor Sesquicentennial Commission, and produced by students in the University of Michigan’s Speech Department.